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An defence minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is currently looking into the potential threats posed by Chinese cars, while personnel have been instructed to refrain from talking about secret matters in any vehicles.

Safety Advice for MoD Staff

In a recently aired interview on LBC, a defence minister addressed reports that Ministry of Defence officials have been told not to discuss secret material while travelling in Chinese cars.

He explained that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, but emphasised that safety is a concern in all modern cars.

We have a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles in the Ministry of Defence and Chinese ones represent a very small number.

However regardless of if you’re traveling in a Chinese car or a car from another country, our instruction to our staff is not to plug Ministry of Defence technology into their car, to avoid having conversations at a classified level in any kind of vehicle, due to the growing risks of surveillance that are present in every single automobile, to restrict those secret conversations in secure locations. That’s a wise and sensible thing for anyone concerned about security.

After it was suggested that it would be wise for the ministry to cease using all Chinese vehicles, Pollard responded: ‘That’s precisely what we are looking into at the present time.”

Broader Security Context

This announcement follows claims from Scandinavian countries have alerted the UK to the presence of dual-use shutdown mechanisms in Chinese buses, which could enable the Chinese government to switch off buses and bring chaos to transport systems.

Additionally, a Russian spy ship was reportedly directing laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” act by defence officials.

This broader security situation underscores the significance of strong measures and vigilance in all areas of official activities, including transport use to discussions habits.